


Just Another Coffee Shop AU

by stardust_writer



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/M, M/M, Might edit this if I could recover the original file, Minor/Background Relationships - Freeform, Multi, Mutual Pining, This was supposed to be, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Gift Exchange, and my deadline was due, but my computer crashed, long and better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-26 12:10:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22735381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardust_writer/pseuds/stardust_writer
Summary: “You’re just jealous,” his friend Beverly would say. “You wish your lonely ass had someone to make out with today, but you’re stuck with me, a strictly platonic best friend.”“Correction, I was stuck with you,” Eddie says, holding up a finger. “Now that you’re dating Ben, I am, as you put it, a lonely ass.”Beverly laughs and then pulls him along, trying to appease her friend. And it’s not like she was wrong, Eddie just didn’t like to admit she was right. Because she tended to get smug when she was right and that was almost all the time. He already had to put up with it on a daily basis, he would rather it didn’t double on this godforsaken holiday.Or: It's Valentine's Day and Eddie is single.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Bill Denbrough/Mike Hanlon, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Patricia Blum Uris/Stanley Uris
Comments: 10
Kudos: 65
Collections: IT ❀ Valentine's Day Fic Exchange





	Just Another Coffee Shop AU

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Vic_writes01](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vic_writes01/gifts).

> First, I'd like to apologize to my giftee. I know, it's late and I'm so sorry about that. To tell you the truth, my computer crashed, and I couldn't get it to open up long enough to open the planned fic I had for you. So I had to start all over and there wasn't enough time. I hope this is fine, though. There was a lot of room for creative liberty with your prompt and I loved writing it all.
> 
> One day, if my computer manages to get itself working properly again, I'll post the original file I had and gift it to you.

Eddie didn’t particularly dislike Valentine’s Day. More than anything, he had just grown tired of it. Every year, people go around making a big deal of needing a significant other and the like, stressing themselves out to no end all for one day of expensive chocolates and makeout sessions.

“You’re just jealous,” his friend Beverly would say. “You wish your lonely ass had someone to make out with today, but you’re stuck with me, a strictly platonic best friend.”

“Correction, I  _ was _ stuck with you,” Eddie says, holding up a finger. “Now that you’re dating Ben, I am, as you put it, a  _ lonely ass _ .”

Beverly laughs and then pulls him along, trying to appease her friend. And it’s not like she was wrong, Eddie just didn’t like to admit she was right. Because she tended to get smug when she was right and that was almost all the time. He already had to put up with it on a daily basis, he would rather it didn’t double on this godforsaken holiday.

“Come on, just go with us today. It’ll be fun!”

Eddie snorts.

“I’d rather not be a third-wheel, thanks.”

“I told you, it won’t just be me and Ben.”

“Yes, and Patty and Stan will be too lost in each other to justify what you’re implying”

Beverly rolls her eyes, still dragging her friend. To where, Eddie wasn’t sure. He suspects she had used her excuse to get breakfast as bait to force him in on whatever she had planned with Ben, it wasn’t beyond Beverly to do such things. She’d set him up on plenty of blind dates behind his back before, giving Eddie experience in escaping said dates. He figures he could set up a getaway plan after he’s surveyed wherever they’re heading.

That is, until they round a corner and Eddie sees exactly where Beverly planned to take him.

“No,” he says. He attempts to pull his arm out from Beverly’s grip, but she had always been pretty strong so it was futile. That wouldn’t stop Eddie from trying, though. “No, Bev, you sneaky bitch, I’m not going in there.”

Beverly only smiles innocently. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Eddie manages to loosen her grip a little, but is too late. They’ve entered the cafe and his eyes had locked with those of the curly-haired barista behind the bar.

“Hey, Spaghetti Man! You’re back!”

Eddie groans as a flush makes its way up his face.

“I’m going to get you for this,” he hisses at Bev, watching as Richie Tozier made his way over to them.

“If you mean getting me a thank you gift, then sure.”

And suddenly Bev was gone, and Richie had made his way directly in front of Eddie. He practically towered over him and Eddie could only feel his face getting warmer at their close proximity.

If you had told him six months ago that he’d run into his childhood best friend at a cafe after over a decade of zero communication and that he would fall so hopelessly into pining even harder for said best friend after meeting him again, Eddie would have cursed at you and walked away. Unfortunately, that did happen six months ago. And ever since Richie had reconnected with him, all Eddie could think about was how unfair it all was.

When he left Derry years ago, Richie had been a scrawny pre-pubescent kid with thick-rimmed glasses and no filter. Moving had Eddie come to terms with the possibility of never seeing Richie again. He’d used it as a motivation to move on from the pain of leaving his first love behind. But walking into his favorite cafe before work— at 7:20 on the dot, like always—six months ago to find Richie working the bar had thrown all that out the window.

He was taller now, around six feet or taller, with his hair pulled back, some muscle in those once lanky arms, and a megawatt smile. He still kept the same glasses, wore the same kind of clothing, and still had no filter. But Richie had matured and his jokes were funnier.

Eddie couldn’t stop himself from falling all over again.

He didn’t even need to tell his friends what he was feeling. Everyone saw what he was like around Richie. They tease him about it to no end, saying that no one would miss how in love he was with Richie, not even a blind man! Well, no one except Richie apparently.

“You haven’t come into the shop for a while,” Richie breathes. For a second, Eddie wonders how much energy it would have taken the taller man to get to him from his place behind the counter. He sounded far to breathless for that kind of a distance. Then the words are processed in his head and he winces. He would rather not think about the last couple of days. “Your mom and I were so worried about you!”

Eddie dodges the hand ready to pinch his cheek. He scoffs, turning his head away from Richie in a useless attempt to distract from his quickly reddening face.

“It’s been decades, Richie. Will you never get tired of that joke?”

Richie laughs. He throws his arm around Eddie, pulling the smaller of the pair so close that he could smell his cologne, and steers him in the direction of the table where their friends sat.

“Never, Eds.”

“Don’t call me that!”

Richie huffs out another laugh. He tells Eddie his shift will be over in fifteen minutes and that he’ll join their friends later, then leaves to go back to the bar. Eddie watches him leave. It feels both cruel and electrifying. Fate had brought Richie back to him, but he could never work up the courage to reveal just how much he liked that.

A throat clears behind him.

“I know it’s Valentine’s Day, but could you maybe not stare at Richie too much today? Some of us are trying to eat.”

Eddie mutters a ‘fuck off’ at Stan, then takes his seat only glancing at Richie every once in a while.

  
  


Later, after Patty and Stan had decided to spend the rest of the day wrapped up in each other, and Bev and Ben had not-so-subtly excused themselves to meet with Mike and Bill for a double date, Richie and Eddie were left alone in the cafe.

Eddie picks at the handle of his coffee mug. Being alone with Richie shouldn’t have been hard. It wasn’t hard until a couple of days ago, when Bill pointed out that Richie wasn’t going to stay single forever. Girls and guys would eventually make a move on him, especially on Valentine’s Day—the day of all romance! The thought of it had Eddie going into a spiral.

He refused to look at Richie. One look might have him blurting out words he didn’t want said aloud, or might push him into another breakdown.

“Hey, Eds, are you alright?”

Eddie is too lost in his own thoughts to hear Richie. Obviously, he knows that he doesn’t technically have any hold or claim to Richie. He shouldn’t feel bad if someone else eventually starts going out with him, or kisses him, or makes him laugh in that loud, cheery way that he does.

Except it does bother him. The thought of Richie’s attention on someone else, his hand held by them and kissing them until they were giggling uncontrollably. The thought of Richie loving someone else had been lost on Eddie, but now it was in his head and he didn’t like it. He tried imagining what it all would have been like, but he couldn’t stand to let the scenes play without immediately wishing it was him instead.

He was pulled from his thoughts when he felt a hand rest on his knee.

“Hey, you okay?”

He glances at Richie’s hand on his knee, then looks up. Their eyes lock and Eddie can practically feel the rest of the world fading away. All he sees are Richie’s brown eyes, magnified by those dorky glasses. They’re beautiful and deep, so easy to lose yourself in.

In that split second, Eddie makes a spur-of-the-moment decision. He leans forward and smashes his lips against Richie’s. There’s a moment where Richie is still and Eddie wonders suddenly if this was such a good idea. He makes to pull away, but Richie’s arms are wrapping themselves around him and pulling him closer.

He was kissing back.

It was quick and a little hard to work around with their angle,but it was perfect for Eddie. And when they pulled away, eyes locked and both out of breath, Richie was smiling at him, wide and dopey.

“You kiss better than your mom.”

The first thing Eddie does is whack him upside the head. Next, he laughs and allows Richie another kiss. They play the game for a couple of minutes, ignoring the stares of the other patrons—some dreamy, the others annoyed. When they’d settled down, Eddie has to ask.

“What does this mean?”

Richie glances down at him, smile still in place.

“It means we like each other, I think.”

**Author's Note:**

> [I'm on tumblr, too!](https://stardust-writer.tumblr.com/)


End file.
